1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a premium object including a sealed protective pouch having a premium object such as a coupon enclosed therein, and a method which allows economical, continuous, on-line production of such premium items without the need for individual handling of the premium objects. More particularly, the invention hereof relates to a carrier sheet having adhesive coating thereon, a premium object having a backing sheet in contact with the coating, and a top sheet overlaying the premium object and marginally adhering to the carrier sheet in order to form the pouch and in order to form a continuous seal surrounding the premium object.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Producers of packaged food products such as potato chips or the like often include premium objects such as coupons, baseball cards, and so forth in the food package as part of a merchandising program. The premium objects, however, must be enclosed in a sealed, protective pouch in order to protect the objects from oil, moisture, colorings, and so forth present in the food products, and to ensure that the premium object itself does not contact the food product.
Heretofor, premium objects have been enclosed in a protective pouch by first producing the objects and then individually placing them on a production line in which a cellophane wrapper, or the like, is placed around each premium object and heat sealed in order to form a protective pouch around the premium object.
Known prior art methods of producing premium objects enclosed by protective pouches are inefficient in that the premium objects must be first separately manufactured and then individually placed for enclosure by the pouch material.